Wladimir Klitschko vs. Jameel McCline

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Challenger rankings
Org. Pos. As of Published
1+ Mth. Old
WBA 6 31.08.2002 24.08-05.09.2002
WBC 6 ~31.08.2002 24.08-06.09.2002
IBF 5 ~31.08.2002 17.08-01.09.2002
WBO 1 22.08.2002 by 30.08.2002
Ring 5 11.08.2002 ~11.08.2002
2+ Mth. Old
WBA 6 31.07.2002 31.07-05.08.2002
WBC 5 ~24.07.2002 06-24.07.2002
IBF 5 ~31.07.2002 by 08.08.2002
WBO 1 30.06.2002 by 03.07.2002
Ring 6 18.06.2002 ~18.06.2002
3+ Mth. Old
WBA 7 30.06.2002 by 03.07.2002
WBC 5 ~30.06.2002 22.06-02.07.2002
IBF 5 ~28.06.2002 by 28.06.2002
WBO 1 30.06.2002 by 03.07.2002
Ring 6 18.06.2002 ~18.06.2002
Punchstats
Total Punches Klitschko McCline
Landed 181 61
Thrown 433 307
Pct. 42% 20%
Total Jabs Klitschko McCline
Landed 107 32
Thrown 277 198
Pct. 39% 16%
Power Punches Klitschko McCline
Landed 74 29
Thrown 156 109
Pct. 47% 27%

Wladimir Klitschko 241 lbs beat Jameel McCline 263 lbs by RTD at 3:00 in round 10 of 12

  • Date: 2002-12-07
  • Location: Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
  • Referee: Jay Nady
  • Judge: Jerry Roth 99-90
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  • Judge: Duane Ford 98-91
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  • Judge: Nelson Vazquez 99-90
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Notes

  • First hints at the fight being made appeared at the beginning of July.
  • On September 22, Klitschko brothers' Official Website informed that McCline had turned down an offer of $1.1 million, demanding $1.5 million instead.[1][2][3][4]
  • Alongside McCline, Klitschko's team also negotiated with Kirk Johnson; on September 30, HBO Vice-President Xavier James told the press that "from our side, the deal is done. The promoters now have to work out the details."[5]
  • On October 4, Klitschko's manager Klaus-Peter Kohl told the press that "only the fight location [for Klitschko-McCline bout] has not been finalized, but it will be 95% Las Vegas."[6]
  • On October 5, McCline's team finally accepted the terms of the contract, including $1.1 million purse.[7]
  • On October 10, the bout was officially announced by Cedric Kushner Promotions.[8]
  • McCline rated No. 6 in the world by The Ring Magazine as of December 1.
  • McCline down in the tenth.
  • Klitschko soundly ahead on all three judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
  • In Germany, the same-day replay of the fight averaged 4.95 million viewers on ZDF.[9]

Klitschko Scores 10th Round TKO Over McCline

By John Gregg, The Boxing Times, December 7, 2002

Klitschko-Mccline 52842939.jpg
Klitschko-Mccline 52842929.jpg

Las Vegas, Nevada (Mandalay Bay Events Center) – In the biggest fight of his life, Jameel McCline couldn't pull the trigger. Before the night was over, he also couldn't he couldn't get off his stool.

In a battle between two men who could have doubled as power forwards in the NBA, WBO heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko retained his crown by scoring a 10th round TKO over McCline. The Ukrainian PhD dropped McCline late in the 10th, with two thunderous left hooks to the head followed by another left and a whistling right cross. McCline managed to beat the count at nine but was saved from further punishment when the bell rang to end the round.

McCline's veteran trainer Jimmy Glenn refused to let his fighter answer the bell for the 11th and referee Jay Nady halted the one-sided affair.

McCline with impressive wins over Michael Grant, Lance Whitaker, and Shannon Briggs struggled to let his hands go for most of the fight. He never was able to harness his power, or find his rhythm, and was simply outgunned by the imposing Klitschko.

The champion hurt McCline in the fifth round and continued to methodically wear down the challenger with pile driving left jabs and right crosses until closing the show in the tenth.

Despite dominating the bout, Klitschko nevertheless was complementary about McCline's effort.

"He was very good prepared and focused on the fight," Klitschko said after the victory. "He give his best. Of course, it was the right decision from him to stop and not go further. Every fighter who goes in the ring wants to win the fight."

McCline appeared tight for most of the fight and never was able to capitalize on his own power. From the fifth round on he fought with his mouth open, laboring for air, and to throw punches.

"I couldn't get the jab off," McCline said after the loss. "I don't know why, I'll have to look at the tape."

True Heavyweights

McCline (28-3-3, 16 KO's) managed to get off three nervous left jabs to open the first round but they missed their target and afterward the challenger appeared somewhat tentative. At the 1:50 mark of the 1st, Klitschko (40-1, 37 KO's) drilled the challenger with a hard right hand to the body. Moments later, Klitschko (240) caught McCline (263) with a straight right hand to the chin that penetrated between the challenger's gloves. Both men remained at distance fighting on the perimeter until with 36-seconds left in the round, Klitschko, 6'6" tagged McCline with another sharp right hand to the ribs.

Throughout the early rounds, the challenger continued to flinch as Klitschko feinted his shots and then came back to land effective blows. Late in the 2nd, Klitschko caught McCline, 6'6", with another solid right hand to the body that continued to chip away at the challenger's armor and shake his confidence. With 28-seconds to go in the 2nd, the champion nailed McCline with two stiff jabs and a searing right cross to the face that drove the bigger man back into the corner. McCline attempted to answer just before the bell, but Klitschko easily blocked the shots and the challenger's poise continued to erode.

The champion returned to piling up points in the third and fourth rounds by controlling the center of the ring and landing telephone-like left jabs that McCline was unable to slip or block.

Blasting the Mountain

McCline, Port Jefferson, New York, continued to lose the war of jabs in the fifth round as the champion repeatedly beat him to the punch and the challenger began a long slow slide.

Klitschko opened the 5th, by drilling the challenger with a half dozen malevolent left jabs that ricocheted off of McCline's profile. At the two-minute mark, Klitschko caught the challenger with a laser-like right hand to the ear. McCline gave ground and Klitschko scored again with an off-balance left hook high on the skull.

With 52-seconds remaining in the 5th, Klitschko rocked the challenger with a clean left hook to the jaw. McCline did a quick two-step as his knees slightly buckled before retreating. Taking his time, Klitschko continued to measure his opponenet and hammer McCline with a series of debilitating left hooks that thudded off of the challenger's face. At the bell, McCline took a deep breath and slowly returned to his corner looking like a fighter who lacked confidence and was unwilling to trade shots with the WBO champ.

Klitschko, Kiev, Ukraine, continued to pile up points and break McCline down in the sixth and the seventh rounds. At the 2:04 mark of the 8th, Klitschko drilled the challenger with a sharp left hook that caught McCline on the top of the head. The blow further drained McCline's conviction as he seemingly went through the motions unwilling to let his hands go. With 1:29 remaining in the 8th, Klitschko landed a solid left hook and followed up moments later with a searing right cross to the face. At the 1:02 mark, Klitschko stepped inside and deposited two clubbing left hooks off of McCline's skull. The champion closed out the round with two more stiff hooks to the challenger's face as McCline's hopes of victory all but vanished.

Klitschko's domination continued in the 9th round and at the 2:27 mark, the champion rocked McCline with a thudding left jab followed by a rapier-like right hand flush on the chin. To his credit, McCline attempted to return fire but Klitschko easily kept him at distance but well within firing range. With 1:09 remaining in the round, the champion connected with yet another thudding hook that rattled the challenger. Klitschko closed out the 9th with a searing right hand over the top.

On The Deck

The champion continued to hammer away with remorseless authority in the tenth round as McCline offered less and less resistance. At the 2:30 mark of the 10th, Klitschko connected with a double left hook to the head. Moments later, the champion scored with a six-shot combination to the head. The challenger attempted to answer but he lacked the will to effectively trade with former Olympic Gold medal winner and as a result he remained on the business end of Klitschko's thudding shots.

The champion continued his systematic destruction of the challenger as the crowd grew restless and began booing. With 36-seconds to go in the 10th, Klitschko hurt the challenger with yet another thunderous left hook to the jaw. The champion followed immediately with another salvo of shots as McCline attempted to cover. The fans came back to life following the fireworks as Klitschko drove home several more thundering but clubbing punches.

Seconds later, Klitschko feinted his right and then delivered a jackhammer left hook flush on the jaw. The blow caught the challenger square and as McCline lost his balance and began careening back toward the ropes, Klitschko caught him with another punishing hook followed by a right hand to the back of the head and yet another whip-like left hook to the jaw. McCline began falling to his left and landed in the corner as Klitschko just grazed his chin with a right uppercut.

McCline came to rest sitting on the deck in his own corner with his left arm draped over the ropes. Using the ropes for leverage, McCline stumbled to his feet at the count of nine but the bell rang to end the 10th. It took McCline's corner several seconds to get his stool in the ring and the challenger looked dazed and confused.

McCline's venerable trainer Glenn took several glances at his charge and wisely decided that his fighter was in no condition to continue. McCline offered no resistance to the decision and remained silent as the referee Jay Nady signaled an end to the bout.

In a battle between huge heavyweights, Klitschko not only robbed McCline of his confidence but ultimately also his voice and his resolve.[10]

Klitschko's Glitch

By Richard Hoffer, Sports Illustrated, December 16, 2002

It may turn out that Wladimir Klitschko, younger of the wild and crazy Ukrainian brothers, will rule the heavyweight division one day. But judging from his performance last Saturday against Jameel McCline, that's going to be a little further down the line than we thought. Klitschko is huge, is a skilled athlete, has a Ph.D. and speaks in the kind of garbled syntax mat reporters love to quote. At the moment, though, he's just not much of a performer inside the ring—and that's after he knocked out McCline.

Truth is, until the 10th round, when Klitschko landed a left hook that crumpled the former gunrunner and caused McCline's corner to throw in the towel before the next round, the fight had been a largely desultory affair, slow enough that fans were reconsidering their investment of time and money (not to mention Klitschko's reputation). Even the Ukrainian picked up on it. "I hear in fight, somebody a little unhappy," he said afterward, as agreeable as always. "It was little bit boring, made frowns."

A few frowns, anyway, although it's hard to assign the fault entirely to Klitschko. McCline, whom you might have thought was used to living dangerously after a stint in New York state prison in the early 1990s, was instead the picture of caution in Las Vegas's Mandalay Bay Events Center. He refused to bring any fight to Klitschko and reacted to aggression primarily with fits of blinking. He appeared to be a victim of Tourette's at some points, almost seizing up.

But the 26-year-old Klitschko, who is thought to be the better athlete of the brothers (Vitali, older by five years, is set to fight Lennox Lewis for the WBC title next spring), did little to press his considerable advantage. He was content to employ his athleticism in jabbing and circling McCline. It was a splendid display for a man who is 6'7" and weighs 240 pounds, but if fight fans preferred ballet, they'd have been yelling "Bolshoi!" instead of, well, something else.

Klitschko, while acknowledging his caution, didn't find fault in it, at least not to the extent the audience did. "Have to be very careful," he explained. "Don't want to prove my head, how hard it is."

His promoter, Klaus-Peter Kohl, was a little more apologetic. Kohl, who has been spoon-feeding the Klitschkos for several years (Wladimir was riding a crest of enthusiasm after destroying 41-year-old Ray Mercer last June), begged tolerance for his prodigy. "Give him a little more time," Kohl said, "he will be greatest."

Well, he's pretty good, nobody's disputing that—and he could get better. It's just that Saturday's bout didn't prove anything except that Klitschko is a charmer with an 81-inch reach. He has a terrific jab, which seemed to keep McCline off-track all night, but nobody this side of Transylvania is going to pay to see Wlad the Impaler. He'll need to explore other ways to impress people with his gifts than to stick and move.

Yet based on the box-office potential of Klitschko, the fight was billed as the main event over the rematch between lightweight champion Floyd Mayweather and Jose Luis Castillo. Mayweather, undertaking the second fight after critics complained of his decision over Castillo in their first bout, soundly outboxed Castillo this time, winning a noncontroversial decision in a fight that had more action than Klitschko-McCline. Such is the popularity of heavyweight boxing, though, that the more appealing bout was mere warmup.

Heavyweights these days may not be better (not with dinosaurs like Evander Holyfield lingering in the division, long past their primes), but they are certainly bigger. And as they grow (few under 6'5" seem to be valued as contenders any longer), expectations follow. There is a lot at stake in the development of the Klitschkos—who takes over Lewis's mantle once he retires?—so it's no wonder they've been nursed so well. But to make true believers, they need to fight with more heart than they have so far. [11]



Preceded by:
W. Klitschko vs. Mercer 		WBO Heavyweight Title Fight
# 27 		Succeeded by:
W. Klitschko vs. Sanders


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